Albany Law and Georgia State Partner on Landmark Study Examining Race, Justice, and Atlanta’s Comprehensive Development Plan

A unique collaboration between Albany Law School and Georgia State University College of Law students and faculty brings to life Envisioning Atlanta: Critical Commentary on the City’s Efforts to Amend Its Comprehensive Development Plan,  an ambitious student-led report examining Atlanta’s ongoing efforts to shape its future growth through land use and zoning law principles as well as critical dimensions of the history, theory, and ethics of urban planning. 

The project brought together students and faculty from two law schools nearly 1,000 miles apart to analyze Atlanta’s  May 2024 Draft #1 of Plan A: City of Atlanta Comprehensive Development Plan. The final report focuses on confronting the ways in which land use, zoning, and planning decisions have historically shaped—and often constrained—racial and economic equity in one of America’s most dynamic cities.

The partnership emerged from the work of Albany Law Associate Dean Jonathan Rosenbloom, who in spring 2024 guided his Land Use and Racial Justice class in producing a sweeping analysis of land use inequities across New York’s Capital Region. That report inspired him to extend the model beyond Albany.

“Land use isn’t only about buildings or maps — it’s about who gets to belong, who has access to opportunity, and whose neighborhoods are protected or pushed aside. In this course, our students confronted those truths firsthand,” said Rosenbloom. “By engaging directly with Atlanta’s planning process, they saw how legal decisions can either perpetuate exclusion or open doors to equity. That understanding will stay with them throughout their careers, empowering them to help design communities that are more inclusive, more resilient, and more just.”

Rosenbloom reached out to Professor John Travis Marshall, an expert in environmental and land use law at Georgia State, who immediately saw the educational and civic potential. Together, they designed a joint research experience that would allow students to study a major U.S. city’s planning process in real time.

“Our students will soon be lawyers, and they’ll hold positions where they can help shape more vital, inclusive, and resilient cities. Professor Rosenbloom and I recognized that the City of Atlanta’s recent effort to update its comprehensive development plan would give the students a privileged window into the land use debates and decisions that will influence the growth and development of one the nation’s fastest growing cities,” Professor Marshall said. 

Beginning in August 2024, law students from both institutions began a four-month deep dive into Atlanta’s CDP revision process. Their work coincided with the City’s early 2024 draft update, offering a rare window into the formative stages of policymaking.

Students examined how land use laws shape neighborhood development, economic opportunity, and environmental quality, and how historic zoning decisions have reinforced racial and socioeconomic divides. They also spoke with Atlanta officials, city planners, police leaders, and community advocates to understand how local decisions continue to affect equity outcomes.

Albany Law 3L Abby Goldfarb focused on historic preservation. In her five-part chapter, she outlined what historic preservation law is, its relationship to participation in unjust historical narratives and inequitable application, and how those both apply to Atlanta. She also explored how zoning laws impact Atlanta’s preservation and the decision makers around it and closed with recommendations and suggested updates for how the city could truly become an “Atlanta for all.”

Goldfarb already had an interest in law and policy before enrolling in Rosenbloom’s course, but this project, she said helped solidify the intersection of two of her passions—preservation and policy. After completing the project, she’s now interested in looking for work in that area of law, if the opportunity presented itself.

“We got to meet virtually with a lot of people from Atlanta who were in government there. We really got to hear different perspectives on the issues coming from different people in government,” she said. “Right now, there's no [standalone] class at this law school on historic preservation. Atlanta has a lot of civil rights history and I already personally have an interest in that topic. I wanted to understand how the laws around what we preserve from our history have racial impacts and how that showed up there.”

When the students completed their chapters in December 2024, the national conversation around diversity, equity, and inclusion was about to shift dramatically. By early 2025, federal agencies began removing online references to racial equity and environmental justice—some of which the students had cited in their work.

Rather than remove those references, the authors noted the missing sources, preserving an important record of the changing policy landscape.

“It is fantastic to see ENVISIONING ATLANTA in print! I often tell our Georgia State College of Law students that they are just months or several years away from planning, structuring, and influencing the housing and community development decisions that will shape Metro Atlanta for years to come. I’m sure the same is true of students from Albany Law School and the cities they will call home. ENVISIONING ATLANTA reflects exactly the type of engaged learning that our students are seeking — a classroom that extends into our cities’ council chambers and neighborhoods and analyzes some of the most consequential zoning and land use issues,” said George State University College of Law Dean Courtney Anderson.

“I want to thank Dean Cinnamon Carlarne and Associate Dean Jonathan Rosenbloom of Albany Law School for their generosity in inviting our GSU College of Law students to join in this study of the draft 2024 Atlanta Comprehensive Development Plan and for funding publication of the students’ report.”

The full report, Envisioning Atlanta: Critical Commentary on the City’s Efforts to Amend Its Comprehensive Development Plan, is now available through Albany Law School and Georgia State University College of Law.